Rogers Park

ARTICLES ABOUT ROGERS PARK BY DATE - PAGE 2

Stanley Letkiewicz saw a chance to help somebody out and to get help with some of the heavy chores that at age 94, he wasn't up to anymore. Some time last winter, a family member says Letkiewicz took into his Cragin neighborhood home a man he saw begging for change outside a nearby Aldi store. It was an act of kindness police say cost the retired machinist his life when, police believe, the man later broke in, beat him and ransacked the residence. Letkiewicz died Wednesday of injuries he suffered in the Oct. 13 attack, and police are looking for the man who lived with Letkiewicz off and on for about a year.

A male victim was killed this morning after being struck by a northbound Metra train near the Rogers Park station, officials said. The incident was reported at about 10:52 a.m. and involved Train No. 321 which had left the Oglivie Transportation Center downtown at 10:35 a.m., said Meg Reile, a Metra spokeswoman. The Union Pacific North train was traveling on the Union Pacific line and was destined to arrive in Waukegan at 11:50 a.m., Reile said. The train remained stopped near the Rogers Park station and passengers are being transferred onto train No. 803 which is making all scheduled stops on its route, according to a Metra advisory . Also inbound train No. 338 which was scheduled to leave Waukegan at 12:10 p.m. was canceled, the advisory stated.

Some West Rogers Park residents were briefly evacuated late this morning after a construction crew hit a gas main. The gas line was breached about 10 a.m. in the 2000 block of West Morse Avenue, said Fire Chief Kevin MacGregor, a Fire Department spokesman. A Peoples Gas crew shut the gas off shortly before 11 a.m. and residents were being allowed to return to their buildings, he said. --Staff report

Fifty-five people were left homeless Sunday after an extra-alarm fire ripped through their apartment building in the Rogers Park neighborhood. Flames shot 20 feet above the roof of the three-story apartment building in the 6600 block of North Newgard Avenue, and black smoke billowed from the building as firefighters arrived on scene a little before 1 p.m. The 2-11-alarm fire, which sends about 100 firefighters to the scene, was reported under control by 1:50 p.m., said Chicago Fire Department spokesman Richard Rosado.

A months-long narcotics investigation by several law enforcement agencies resulted in the arrests of nearly 100 people, including drug dealers accused of using LINK cards to buy narcotics instead of groceries. The five-month investigation, dubbed "Operation Hard Swipe," targeted people in Evanston and Rogers Park whom authorities accused of selling drugs and funneling money to street gangs. In some cases, authorities said today, drug dealers used taxpayer money to buy and sell drugs.

Karl Miller (left, in silhouette) and his son Trevor,18, tape a sliced-up sukkah at Temple Menorah this afternoon. (Phil Velasquez / Chicago Tribune) Chicago police are searching for vandals that shattered windows and caused other damage at a North Side synagogue overnight. Members of one of the three congregations that use Temple Menorah, 7350 N. California Ave., arrived this morning to find two broken windows at the building smashed and the canvas panels of a sukkah -- a temporary hut used for prayers and celebration of Sukkot -- slashed with a sharp object, said Doug Zelden, rabbi of Or Menorah Congregation.

Chicago firefighters respond to a blaze at an apartment building this morning in the North Side's Rogers Park neighborhood. (Chicago Tribune / Liam Ford) Several residents of a Rogers Park apartment building were evacuated this morning after a fire broke out on the back porches of their building. No injuries were reported during the blaze, which was first reported at about 7:51 a.m. at the four-story building in the the 1400 block of Albion Avenue, said Rich Rosado, a Chicago Fire Department spokesman.

Thomas Insley, the 16-year-old Rogers Park boy who was beaten and choked unconscious on his way home from school Monday, was released from the hospital this evening, his father said. As many as four teens jumped Insley from behind, placed him in choke hold and stole his iPod and money from his wallet before leaving him unconscious on the street around 6 p.m. Monday, police and family members said. "He's doing much better," his father Alan Insley said. "He has a fractured nose, and he will go to the dentist tomorrow for the loose teeth.

A bicyclist died this afternoon after running through a stop sign and striking a vehicle this morning in the Far North Side's Rogers Park community, according to Chicago police. The crash happened about 9:45 a.m. in the 2000 block of West Farwell Avenue, police said. The cyclist, a 69-year-old man, was westbound on Farwell when riding through a stop sign at Ridge Boulevard, striking the vehicle, said Chicago Police Officer Veejay Zala, a police spokesman. He said the victim then fell from the bicycle onto the pavement.

Chicago Police detectives are asking for help today finding a woman missing from her West Rogers Park home. Astrid Argus, 63, left her apartment in the 1900 block of West Albion Avenue about 1 p.m. on Friday, according to an alert issued by police this morning. Though she usually is in close contact with her family, Argus has not been in touch with them. She suffers from mental illness and did not take her medication with her, according to police. Argus is white, with a ruddy complexion.